MOTORING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 616, 31 January 1916, Page 3

MOTORING.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. FORTHCOMING i'i XTIiRES. February 12- Pioneer Motor C.lu!>'s Iteach Haces. February Hi ('.rami Patriotic Motor Carnival. All motorists should bear in mind that entries for the various events at tiic Grand Patriotic Motor Carnival to be held at Canterbury Park on Saturday, February 19, close ou Saturday, February fi. His Excellency the Governor has announced that lie will be pleased to accord his patronage to the Grand Patriotic Motor Carnival. The Pioneer Motor and Sports Club has decided to hold a 20-mile solo handicap and a 20-mile side car r;ue on the New Brighton beach on Saturday, February 12. The races will probably commence at about ;> o'clock or ,>..'io. as the tide will then be about right. The entries for these races dose on Monday, February 7. at 9 p.m., and motorists should bear in mind that in entering the races they are assisting the Patriotic Fund. Certificates will be issued in lieu of prizes, and the entry fees will be given to the Patriotic Fund. At present the roads in and around the city are showing some slight signs of improvement. This is undoubtedly due to the recent rain, but it has hardly been sufficient to put the roads in good trim. The North Road is very loose in places, but the South Road is not quite as bad. More rain is needed, and if it. does not arrive shortly the roads will soon be in a similar condition to what they were a few months back. The following extract from the "Sydney Daily Telegraph" gives a graphic account of Mr Erwin G. Baker's recent exploits in Australia.: —" H. G. Baker, the American rider, set. out after the 24 hours Australasian record at 7.1.1 on Monday night. The visitor rode an Indian of 7 h.p. Mr Fred Paape, of Milledge Bros., the local agents for the machine, yesterday received a wire from Melbourne showing that Baker, for the first half of the long ride on the Mortlake course, was well ahead of schedule, lie averaged 4;: miles per hour up to 8 o'clock yesterday morning, covering 550 miles with hours gone, This is well ahead of his schedule for 1000 miles in the 24 hours. Baker's ride for the first 12 hours is a remarkable one, as he had eight hours of night, riding. At this stage of the ride he not only looked like beating the Australasian road record, but the world's 24 hours track record of 1093 miles 199 yards as well. During the day riding yesterday the weather was anything but suitable for record breaking, being very boisterous, while in the 21st lap there was nearly a disaster, some petrol getting loose and setting the machine alight, but the flames were quickly extinguished. At the end of 17; hours Baker was riding magnificently, despite the adverse weather. He had then covered 712 miles, and with 'V; hours to go had only to cover 1.193 miles to beat the Australian record. The weather conditions had settled all chance of covering 1000 miles in the 24 hours. It was anticipated that Baker would cover about. 960 miles in the two rounds of the clock. In the first attempt on the 24 hours record last wee!;, Baker only missed the 100 miles record by •'!(> seconds, but he established the Australian records for 2(H) and "Of) miles. His times were:—loo miles, 1 hour 482 minutes; 200 miles, :: hours 41 minutes; ;!00 miles, 5 hours Uti minutes. The average owner-driver is stingy in the attention he pays to his car; his secret model is the famous philosopher who had just succeeded in teaching his horse to dispense with food, when it died. Very often (says a motoring writer) he takes the line of discovering what is the minimum maintenance on which the car will run. Consequently owner-drivers are all but unanimous in neglecting their detachable wheels. A light car tyre often runs several thousand miles without a puncture; when at last an air tube collapses, the wheel is firmly rusted home. Meantime the naked spare wheel has lain in its well at the mercy of the elements, and its hub is full of rust and grit; but as often as not it goes straight, on to the fixed hub without either wipe from a rag or a squirt of lubricant. Destiny is remorseless, and such carelessness brings its own nemesis. The obvious moral is that detachable wheels should be removed from the hubs onco a month or so, and receive a film of vaseline, or other waterresisting lubricant. Light car wheels must be particularly sensitive to such abuse, for their tyres puncture at rare intervals, and their owners seldom keep a methodical chauffeur. Fortunately, San key bolts are more manageable after such neglect than the ratchet and pawl type of hub common ou bigger vehicles; a rusted Sankey can always be knocked off by laying a piece of wood clean across its rim from side to side, as near the hub as possible, and hitting the wood at, say, the 4 and 8 o'clock positions simultaneously. It is a gross blunder to hit. a ratchet hub lock-nut; it requires -sluicing with paraffin and coaxing, or the delicate internal mechanism may be smashed, when, the last state of that wheel is ineffably worse than the first. If the car under notice got home at all it. was probably achieved tiy leaving the wheel in situ, and transferring the spare cover and tube to it from the fifth wheel. It is equally important to mop off and oil the spare wheel hub before fitting it to a fixed hub on the axle. TAPPKT.